The design of a traditional chair is everything the human body is not: straight vertical lines and a perpendicular flat seat. It's almost laughable to realize that chairs have been designed this way for so long with little regard for our natural curvatures. Stéphane Leathead, a Canadian designer and creative director of Designarium is pushing the boundaries of design forward with the Exocet Chair, an ergonomically designed seat that conforms to the body in dozens of ways.

Handcrafted from birch wood, the transforming lounger is available in several veneers including White Oak, Cherry, Walnut, Maple and Mozambique. Spinning the Exocet‘s rotating steel axis instantly adjusts the seat depending on your personal activity or comfort level. Whether lounging, reading, napping, or entertaining, this patent-pending design is fashioned for a myriad of situations.

When asked how the design came to be, Exocet’s designer Stéphane Leathead told Inhabitat:

“I was looking for a way to design a chair that would allow you to adjust it for your own comfort, based on our own specific different proportions. I couldn’t find anything on the market, and I said there must be a way to design a chair that would allow this…so I said there’s no choice but to have a rotating axis to allow you to angle to the proper [position]…Egonomically nature is good for that, that kind of drop shape guided me. It’s very organic, it looks nicer, and it’s more pleasant. There’s not one straight line on our body — how come we design straight line chairs?”

Leathead explains that the elegant, ergonomic Exocet Chair lets everyone become a designer. He says, “You design the chair you like — you become the designer.” While this version is better for indoor use (because the wood would warp in rain), Leathead is also looking into an outdoor version, as well as custom cushions to enhance the comfort level.

The limited edition design was recently on display at NYCxDesign and has received multiple awards, including the 2015 Gold A’Design Award in Milan, the 2015 Coup de Coeur Sidim Award in Montreal, and the 2015 K-Design Award in Seoul.